Cross Country Wins Both Rocky Mountain Shootout Titles

BOULDER — In what has become a tradition, the Colorado cross country teams won both the men's and women's team titles on Saturday morning in the 32nd running of the Rocky Mountain Shootout at the Buffalo Ranch Cross Country Course on CU's South Campus.

Both teams performed quite well. The women scored 16 points to best Northern Colorado (42) in the NCAA Division I race, while the men totaled 17 points to best Air Force (55), Colorado State (76) and Northern Colorado (93).

CSU-Pueblo won the non-Division I women's race with 31 points and also took the men's non-Division I title (20).

THE WOMEN'S RACE: Junior Val Constien led the women's team in the 5.8-kilometer race, finishing in 21:34. She was second to Lindsey Koch, an unattached runner who finished in 21:12. Constien was the first of four uniformed CU runners to finish in the top six. Tayler Tuttle was fourth (22:04), Cayla Seligman placed fifth (22:08) and Karina Mann was sixth (22:09).

Annie Kelly was the Buffs fifth scorer, finishing 14th overall in 22:28. Another Buff, Karina Mann, placed 31st overall after recording a time of 23:25.

Although they did not compete in uniform, a couple of CU freshman earned top-10 finishes. Olivia Brooks (unattached) was eighth (22:11) and Baylee Jones (unattached) took 10th overall (22:16). Another unattached freshman, Kate Intile, was 25th overall (23:10).

THE MEN'S RACE: Junior Chris Herrick was the top finisher for the Buffs in the men's 8-kilometer race, finishing fifth overall in 25:54. His teammate, Reilly Friedman, was just behind him in sixth (25:57). The Buffs also took seventh place with Mark Tedder clocking in at 26:02.

CU's fourth and fifth place scorers finished just outside the top-10. Connor Dunne (26:26) was 11th overall and Justice Ramos (26:45) placed 15th. The Buffs other uniformed runners included Paxton Smith (19th, 26:48) and Paul Miller (26th, 26:55).

The men also had an athlete racing unattached in freshman Josh Ramos, who took 71st overall (28:40).

NOTABLE: CU's men have won the last 27 shootout titles and 28 of the last 32…The women have won 19 straight titles and 25 of the last 26 races.

UP NEXT: The Buffs are off until Oct. 13 and 14 when the squads will again split for a pair of meets. Part of the team will compete on Oct. 13 at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wis., while the rest of the team will race at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational in Louisville, Ky.

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Mark Wetmore
On how he believed the women's teamed performed today
"Well, as you know, today was a look at some emerging varsity people. We're allowed to run up to ten in the Pac-12 meet. We took eight yesterday to Notre Dame, so we're looking at the eighth, ninth and tenth people to see who fills out the squad a month from now. Val looked good. I think this was her best race ever and this was a difficult course."

On how he believed the men's team performed today
"Well it's the same situation as with the women that the top nine, in this case, ran yesterday at Notre Dame. These guys are hoping to prove that they belong on the trip to the Pac-12 in a month. Chris had his best race ever here. Getting under twenty-six minutes is closing in on varsity time."

On the course conditions
"We ended up with a better day than I expected. I thought it was going to be muddy and slow but the times ended up fast. So I guess it was better out there than I expected."

On whether there were any surprises
"Val being as much ahead of the other CU women was a pleasant surprise. And then I think Chris was probably third or fourth on the form chart among our guys and then ended up the first guy across the line for us. So those were pleasant surprises."

Junior Val Constien
On her personal performance
"I thought it went okay. I have a lot of work to do with speed. I didn't close as well as I wanted to. I also think I need to work on my endurance some more, because that second time up jawbone was harder than it should have been."

On the team performance
"I love racing with my teammates because we are training together all the time. The top five of us today have been working really hard as a group so it was nice to see everyone have a pretty good race. Our freshman who weren't even in uniform ran well too. As a team we ran really well today."

Junior Chris Herrick
On his performance
"I think it went well today. We didn't know what the conditions were going to be coming in with whether or not the course would be too muddy or not, but it turned out the course was in pretty good shape."

On how the team performance
"It looked like we all ran together. So it was a solid day for the team."

RESULTS
32nd Annual Rocky Mountain Shootout
Buffalo Ranch (Boulder, Colo.)

WOMEN'S 5.8K DIVISION I TEAM SCORES
1. Colorado, 16; 2. Northern Colorado, 42

WOMEN'S 5.8K NON-DIVISION I TEAM SCORES
1. CSU-Pueblo, 31; 2. Colorado Mines, 51; 3. Regis, 82; 4. MSU-Billings, 95; 5. Westminster, 96; 6. St. Mary (Neb.), 114

WOMEN'S FINISHERS (Top 15):
1. Lindsey Koch, Unattached, 21:12; 2. Val Constien, CU, 21:34; 3. Alayna Szuch, Unattached, 21:54; 4. Tayler Tuttle, CU, 22:04; 5. Cayla Seligman; CU, 22:08; 6. Karina Mann, 22:09; 7. Sophie Seward, Unattached, 22:10; 8. Olivia Brooks, UNA-Colorado, 22:11; 9. Miriam Roberts, CSU-Pueblo, 22:15; 10. Baylee Jones, UNA-Colorado, 22:16; 11. Gillian Maness, CSU-Pueblo, 22:18; 12. Katy East, Northern Colorado, 22:20; 13. Jenna Diers, Unattached, 22:27; 14. Annie Kelly, CU, 22:28; 15. Shannon Payne, Unattached, 22:31

Other CU Finishers: 31. Elissa Mann, 23:25

MEN'S 8K DIVISION I SCORES
1. Colorado, 17; 2. Air Force, 55; 3. Colorado St., 76; Northern Colorado, 93

MEN'S 8K NON-DIVISION I TEAM SCORES
1. CSU-Pueblo, 20; 2. Colorado Mines, 50; 3. MSU-Billings, 80; 4. Old Zealand, 101; 5. Westminster, 114; 6. Regis, 153; 7. University of Colorado Denver, 195

MEN'S FINISHERS (Top 15):
1. Riley Coates, US Air Force/Pikes Peak Elite, 25:25; 2. Nathanael Williams, Unattached, 25:28; 3. Marcelo Laguera, CSU-Pueblo, 25:43; 4. Paul Roberts, CSU-Pueblo, 25:49; 5. Chris Herrick, CU, 25:54; 6. Reilly Friedman, CU, 25:57; 7. Mark Tedder, CU, 26:02; 8. Maximilliano Martinez, Unattached, 26:03; 9. Martin Medina, Boulder Harriers; 26:10; 10. Luke Giugliano, Stucco Running Club, 26:21; 11. Connor Dunne, CU, 26:26; 12. Alec Hornecker, Denver Track Club, 26:26; 13. Marshall Wheeler, Air Force, 26:35; 14. Stephen Haas, Northern Colorado, 26:42; 15. Justice Ramos, CU, 26:45

Other CU Finishers: 19. Paxton Smith, 26:48; 26. Paul Miller, 26:55

(complete results: CUBuffs.com/crosscountry)

Cross Country Wins Both Rocky Mountain Shootout Titles

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Olivia Brooks

Connor Dunne

Reilly Friedman

Chris Herrick

Kate Intile

Baylee Jones

Annie Kelly

Elissa Mann

Karina Mann

Paul Miller

Josh Ramos

Justice Ramos

Cayla Seligman

Paxton Smith

Mark Tedder

Tayler Tuttle